What is the Correct Name of the Vineyard?

by Dr. Charles Edward Banks, c. 1911

'Martin's Vineyard ... some call it Marthaes Vineyard:' thus wrote Whitfield in 'The Light
Appearing' (1651), and it is a strange fact that there was great uncertainty in the 17th century, even
among the inhabitants of the island, as to its correct name.

An examination of contemporary literature of that period, printed books, letters, public records, legal
documents, etc., confirms this curious fact; and as a result of an extended search the author feels safe in saying
that in the public and private records of the 17th century, the name Martin's is applied to the
Vineyard, to the practical exclusion of Martha's, and this phenomenon has the repeated sanction of Mr.
Thomas Mayhew himself, the Governor and 'Lord of the Isles,' in public and private papers. Our first book of
land records, kept by Mathew Mayhew as Register, has on the title page the statement that it is the Record of
Lands 'Upon Martin's or Martha's Vineyard,' and doubtless this legend was engrossed by the Register himself.
[In most of the jurats on legal documents before 1700 Matthew Mayhew dodged the issue, and dated the
acknowledgments at 'Mart. Vineyard,' which can be read either way.] With such eminent authority as the
proprietor and his family in doubt as to the name of the territory they owned, it is small wonder that the general
public elsewhere became mixed on the subject.

That an island south of Cape Cod was called Marthaes Vineyard by someone connected with
the expedition under command of the explorer Gosnold in 1602, is well known (3 Mass. Hist. Coll., VIII, 75),
and it seems certain that it was applied to the small isle, now called Noman's Land, lying directly southwest
from the Vineyard of to-day. That this cognomen was finally transferred to the present Martha's Vineyard
seems equally certain; but that the name Martin's was used up to about 1700, even by the residents of
the Vineyard, by local historians and cartographers, by public officials throughout New England and New
York, must be accepted by the reader upon the array of authorities which follows. What gave rise to this
confusion in the 17th century, for in the next it was settled by the Colonial government of Massachusetts as
'Martha,' is not easily explained. Such a difference of names, so long persisted in, must have had some
substantial basis in fact, for it is not credible that accident or chance or mistake will account for all this mixture.

The question naturally arises, who christened this small island 'Martha's Vineyard?' Why should such
an insignificant place as Noman's Land be marked by Gosnold himself for distinction in honor of any female
member of his family, especially when it was given only a temporary visit by members of his party? Naturally
he would reserve such a mark of courtesy for the place he might select as an abode. Unfortunately, the theory
advanced that some Martha Gosnold, mother, wife or daughter of the explorer, was so honored, fails of
realization because a careful search among the females of this family at that period does not reveal a Martha in
any remote generation, who could be available as the patroness of Noman's Land. If any Martha was thus
complimented, she was not a Gosnold, and in view of the existing customs and observances of that period, it is
doubtful if the name of any woman other than the sovereign or some princess, would be selected for such
purposes in a semi-official expedition.

In the following tables is appended a list of references to documents, etc., which show when, where
and how the two names were used:

As to the probability of evidence in favor of either name, the case for 'Martin' must overcome the
statement of John Brereton, the historian of Gosnold's voyage, that an island, Noman's Land, received in 1640
the title of 'Marthaes Vineyard.' It is known that a Capt. John Martin was with Gosnold in this voyage, who
later figures as an associate of Gosnold in the early settlement of Virginia. [Brown, The First Republic, 33. He
was son of Sir Richard Martin, Master of the Mint.] The suggestion that it was this companion's name, John
Martin, which was intended to be honored by the baptism, may be entertained; as much so as Point Gilbert,
which was named by him for Bartholomew Gilbert, another companion, and Tucker's Terror, which he
applied to a shoal or reef for another voyager. Brereton's relation is not above criticism, for many errors as to
sailing courses, longitude and other kindred subjects, are to be found in his book.

We have already noted the names of the island as given to it by various discoverers Straumey by the
Norsemen, Luisa by Verrazzano, La Soupconneuse by Champlain, and Martha's Vineyard by Gosnold
according to the accounts just given. To these must be added another bestowed on it by the Dutch voyagers,
probably Block and Christiaensen. Their maps of 1616 (Carte Figurative) and 1621 (West Indische Paskaert),
show two names engraved: Texel on the western end and Vlieland on the eastern. These names appear later on
Dudley's Arcano del Mare Map of 1646, the Novi Belgii of 1671, and Blaeu's (1685), and for the last time
Texel appears alone in 1695 on the Jaillot map. It is probable that these early Dutch cartographers intended to
apply Texel to the main island and Vlieland to Chappaquiddick, although the crude drawings could be
interpreted so as to apply the latter name to Nantucket. Texel and Vlieland are two contiguous islands off the
Netherlands, forming a part of the chain known as the West Friesian Islands, which separates the North Sea
from the Zuyder Zee, and the Dutch navigators were undoubtedly reminded of the similarity of arrangement of
the group composed of the islands south of Cape Cod. No attempt was made by the Dutch authorities when in
power in New York to give official sanction to the name of Texel for our island. As a further curiosity in
nomenclature we find ' Maertens Wyngert' applied by Blome, a cartographer, in his map of 1688. This is a
Dutchman's attempt to reduce Martin's Vineyard to his own tongue Wyngert being a wine garden or
Vineyard! All this does not seem so absurd when we have seen our own people calling it indiscriminately
Martin's and Martha's Vineyard, and if uncertainty prevailed among the residents, the outside world might well
join in the confusion. But at length Martha, whoever she was, triumphed over them all, and for two centuries
the Vineyard has had her name as a prefix unchallenged, and without a rival.